RIYADH: The United States called on Tuesday for international action to hold Iran to account after Saudi Arabia accused Tehran of “direct military aggression” over a Yemeni rebel missile attack near Riyadh.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels also threatened to attack ports and airports in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, escalating a crisis between Riyadh and Tehran.

Saudi Arabia’s powerful crown prince had accused Iran of supplying missiles to the Houthis, which he said “could be considered as an act of war”.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif retorted that “the allegations by Saudi officials were contrary to reality”, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Washington’s ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on Tuesday that Iran had supplied a missile to the Houthis that was fired into Saudi Arabia in July, and referred to Riyadh’s claim that the weapon used on Saturday “may also be of Iranian origin”.

“By providing these types of weapons to the Houthi militias in Yemen, Iran’s Islamic Revolution­ary Guard Corps is violating two UN resolutions simultaneously,” Haley said. “We encourage the United Nations and international partners to take necessary action to hold the Iranian regime accountable for these violations.”

Saturday’s attack showed that despite a more than two-year Saudi-led bombing campaign and blockade, the Houthis retain missiles capable of striking targets deep inside the kingdom.

“All airports, ports, border crossings and areas of any importance to Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be a direct target of our weapons, which is a legitimate right,” the rebels’ political office said in statement.

‘Catastrophic’ blockade

However, the tightening of blockade by Saudi Arabia threatens some seven million people in Yemen already on the brink of famine.

The UN urged the coalition to lift the blockade as soon as possible. “If these channels, these lifelines, are not kept open it is catastrophic for people who are already in... the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” said Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the UN’s humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) in Geneva.

Saudi Arabia is also embroiled in the biggest purge of the kingdom’s elite in its modern history.

US President Donald Trump late on Monday voiced support for the crackdown, saying some of those arrested had been “milking their country for years”.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2017